The Burden of Truth
by snowball09
Summary: A story that takes place in between the time that Zack and Cloud get beaten up at the Nibelheim reactor and when Professor Hojo traps them in the ShinRa Mansion Basement. No Pairings, Minor Violence


"_I want to be a hero."_

"_SOLDIER; Kill people, don't ask questions."_

"_I want to be 1__st__ class."_

"_Never wonder who the person was, why they lived."_

"_We're lucky to be friends…. Right?"_

_Cloud Strife was sitting on a nicely made bed, staring up at the wooden ceiling without much to say. His hands were folded together at his stomach, thumbs idly circling around each other. _

"_Get some sleep, Cloud. Tomorrow we're going to the reactor."_

_His attention was now focused on the SOLDIER that had just entered the room with his tall composition and obvious pride. Cloud nodded without breaking his silence while turning to reach for the lamp at the side of his bed._

"Cloud…"

_The next day came and went uneventfully. Cloud was put on patrol duty as his two role models went towards the mountains. Tifa had gone with them. _

_A week was going by at an extremely slow pace. Cloud would take small walks around the village, and wouldn't dare leave the inn without his helmet. There were occasions when the villagers had brought up the courage to attempt small talk with the Cadet. Cloud kept his professionalism and refused to continue the conversations. _

_He slept in the same room as Zack, he had the bed next to the other and they usually ate breakfast together. Zack kept bringing up conversations that he was happy to pursue, but they were never anything important. However, Cloud couldn't help but noticing that every passing day, his role model kept talking with less and less enthusiasm. Of course the entire team that had been stationed at Nibelheim sounded that way. After 2 days of being in this town, anyone would get bored and lose interest. But what made Zack different was that his voice started sounding less confident and his poise wasn't as strong as before. _

"Cloud!"

_It was a good 5 days later when a rumor that has been circling the town was finally brought up._

"_So- where did Sephiroth go?" _

_Cloud was in a daze, staring at the window sill while laying on his bed. He recognized the voice as that of his partner, and as soon as Sephiroth's name was mentioned, the young Cadet blinked and suddenly felt wide awake._

"_He's at the ShinRa mantion, send someone over to go check up on him."_

"_But- it's so late-" His partner was on the verge of stuttering. Cloud turned his head to stare at the two men at the doorway of the room; Zack seemed rather pale._

"_NOW, Cadet!" The Cadet saluted his superior sloppily before scrambling to go back downstairs and outside the inn._

_That was the night that Zack had introduced his sword as his Pride and Dreams. He left Cloud on an empty note when he went to sleep._

"CLOUD!"

_Whether it was the intense amount of smoke or a sudden piercing scream that woke the Cadet up, it didn't matter. Zack had woken up at the same time as well as the second Cadet that accompanied them in the room. Cloud gasped while getting up from his bed and found himself coughing at a sudden large amount of smoke entered the room. Zack was already on his feet and directing everyone out of the room, his gloved hand covering his nose and mouth. Cloud followed his example and pulled up his collar to allow filtered air into his lungs. He grabbed his helmet on the way out._

_When they had all safely made their way outside, the only thing that could be seen was a raging fire. _

_Tifa.. _

_Sephiroth… _

_Nibelheim…._

"_Protect the villagers!" With that order, Zack ran ahead, aiming a punch at Cloud's shoulder to remove his shocked look on his face and get him back into focus._

_The Cadet quickly put his helmet on with shaky sweaty hands and ran off to find anyone- anything that could explain this disaster. _

"Cloud! Wake up!"

Faded green hues shot open, as panic quickly took over him. Stars were clouding his vision, he was looking left and right, his knuckles closing in on whatever he could get a grip on. His head was spinning insanely fast and even as he was leaning against a stone wall, sitting on the cold hard ground, he was still getting extreme vertigo. He tried to get up despite his loss of balance but a hand was keeping him on the ground. 'Tifa! Zack! Nibelheim! Was it all really gone? Was he having a horrible nightmare?' The burns and scratches on his arms and face told the entire story.

"_AAAH!_" Finally seizing from struggling, he threw his head back, gasping in dry cold air. An excruciating pain shot through his body. He could feel the fabric around his chest dampen with a thick, warm liquid.

"Calm down! Just breath, Cloud, breath!"

"_Protect the villagers!" Those orders rang through his increasingly throbbing head as he looked around himself feeling just as useful as a moth. So this is why SOLDIERS were considered hero's. They knew how to act at these times, knew how to keep control and stay on top of things. Watching his home town burn to the ground did not help his situation. The heat was getting more and more unbearable, he couldn't keep himself from shaking, he couldn't keep himself from panicking. _

'_You were trained for this!' and he ran for the first body that he saw laying on the ground._

_His breath slowly returned to normal, Zack waited patiently for his partner to regain a good rhythm, but it was painful to take even the smallest breath. It was unbearable to make the slightest movement. With every beat of his heart he could feel pressure building in his chest._

"_Can you hear me?" Zack articulated._

_With great unwillingness Cloud nodded his head with a muffled "Sir!"_

"_Don't pull that shit on me," Zack finally regained his tone, no longer testing to see if Cloud was alive. "It's me! Look at me!"_

_After taking another moment to calm himself down, Cloud tilted his head back down, resting his green hues on Zack's figure. He was kneeling in front of Cloud, his eyes were tired, his skin was abnormally pale and he was covered in dried blood. Did he himself look that bad too, or worse?_

"_Sephiroth-"_

"_You killed him man-" Zack interrupted. He realized how much his voice was shaking, yet he still managed to uphold a determined tone._

"_Tifa…"_

_The SOLDIER slowly broke eye contact, focusing his attention at the wall behind Cloud. Before the Cadet got a chance to get another panic attack though, Zack interrupted his thoughts. "Listen…"_

"_What happened!" Cloud said, a bit too loudly. He could feel pressure building up in his throat but he didn't dare cough._

"_We need to focus on ourselves at the moment!" he said just as loud, ignoring the others question._

_There was a small moment of silence before Cloud asked, "… what do you mean?" He winced before looking back up at the ceiling, getting uncomfortable very fast. "We're still alive… ShinRa will send for us, right?"_

_Zack didn't answer but Cloud quickly saw the flaw in his theory. Once a soldier was down, ShinRa made sure that they were really down. Zack removed his hand from the Cadets' shoulder. They were both at a loss of what to say. Cloud needed to ask so many things but couldn't bring up the strength to ask anymore. He couldn't even keep his eyes in focus, so he closed his lids and focused on ignoring the increasing pain in his chest._

"_Hey- stay with me Cloud!" Zack brought his hand to his partners face and quickly tilted it back down, tapping his cheek to make sure he opened his eyes again. The Cadet's face lifelessly hung, too unwilling to stay conscious. _

"_CLOUD!" The SOLDIER put both hands on his friends shoulders, giving him a quick shake, regardless of his own aching body. _

_Cloud's eyes shot opened again but he kept he was still looking down, blinking a few times to keep his sight in focus._

"_Cloud-" Zack repeated. "You have a fucking hole through your chest, if you fall asleep now you might not wake up. Now look at me."_

_By this time Cloud was listening unintentionally, his mind was in a huge daze and as much as he tried his focus was slipping faster than he allowed it to. He locked eye contact with Zack his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier._

"_I'm going to get us out of here, okay?" he kept a strong grip on Cloud's shoulders, looking unblinkingly right back at Cloud. _

"_Zack- no you're too weak."_

"_Bullshit-." _

_Cloud ignored him. "We need.." he took another small breath. "We need to get help, you can't carry me in your condition." He spoke very slowly, not caring if he was practically giving orders to his role model, his hero. The one that was supposed to be in charge. The only thing holding Zack up was his infusion with mako energy, but he was still only human, and he was still going to die if he forced himself._

"_I'm not leaving you alone-" he cut himself short, shaking his head. "This is crazy, Cloud, get up we need to go!"_

"_Why? Where are we?" Zack broke eye contact and Cloud took advantage of the moment to look around. _

"_I don't know-… I think we're in the ShinRa Mansion…"_

"_Is there someone-"_

"_Kid, according to ShinRa we're dead. They'll be hunting us down, we need to move!"_

"_Find some supplies, try to cover up your wounds before we go!" As if on cue, another agonizing pain shot through his chest. He closed his fists and winced loudly as nausea took the best of him. He leaned forward to cough and spit out nothing but saliva and blood. _

_He felt Zack's arm wrap around his back, encouraging him to let out anything that was clogging his throat. _

_There was a small pause before Zack finally took back control. "We need to get out of here- get up Cloud." _

"_Zack-" No matter how much he told him to, how much he tried, he just couldn't. The Cadet didn't even want to move anymore, how could he seriously get the strength to get back to his feet? _

"_We don't have time for conversation, why are we still here?" He wrapped Clouds arm around his shoulder and tried to get up, but his own injury prevented him from getting far. They managed to get back on their feet but Cloud quickly released the other to lean back on the wall, trying to put less weight on his legs. Zack stumbled a bit before catching his balance again._

"_For Fucks sake Cloud I can't leave without you!" _

"_Zack- I.. I knew Tifa because she was my childhood friend.."_

_The dark haired SOLDIER stared at Cloud for a moment before looking back to find a door. _

"_It doesn't matter-"_

"_Yes it does! I broke my promise… I promised I'd protect her but I couldn't." He was slowly sliding down the wall, unable to support his weight. Zack went back to staring at him, so Cloud continued. "I was so ashamed that I didn't make SOLDIER…" _

"…_Why do you want to become part of us?" He was looking at the blood stained ground, unable to keep looking into Cloud's eyes. "SOLDIERs are monsters.."_

"_But I still didn't talk to Tifa-" His head started spinning again. "I wish I did, ever since you told me I should."_

_It was when he heard a loud click and the screeching of metal rubbing together that Cloud passed out._


End file.
